Jasmin Darznik’s novel, Song of a Captive Bird (2018), is a fictional account of Iran’s trailblazing woman poet, Forugh Farrokhzad. Darznik is also the author of The New York Times bestseller, The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother’s Hidden Life (2011).

Donia Bijan is the author of the novel, The Last Days of Café Leila (2017), and the memoir, Maman’s Homesick Pie (2011). A graduate of UC Berkeley and Le Cordon Bleu, she presided over many of San Francisco's acclaimed restaurants and earned awards for her French-inspired cuisine.

Kaitlin Solimine is the co-founder of Hippo Reads and author of the debut novel, Empire of Glass (2017), which was short-listed for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Raised in New England, Solimine has considered China a second home for almost two decades.